What We Protect: Final Fantasy VI
by HeiligeHarmonie
Summary: 1000 years ago, a war over the power of magic nearly destroyed the world. Now, after humanity has rebuilt and flourished, a man seeks to once again use magic to take the world as his own. But this ambitious tyrant's quest for power leads to more trouble than he could ever have expected, and only with hope can the world survive. An adaptation of Final Fantasy VI.
1. The Frozen Esper

Note: Let's get this out of the way: This is a fan adaptation of Final Fantasy VI, meaning the core plot and characters belong to Square Enix. I am merely converting this video game's story into a textual format, filling in gaps with headcanon. So, I warn you, this could come off as alternate canon, as I'm almost certain there will be certain places in which I deviate from canon.

* * *

Long ago, humans shared this world with a race of creatures called espers. Some looked as human as you or I, while others resembled the most fearsome beasts. Espers could use magic of all sorts, giving them great power. But despite these differences, espers and man lived among each other in harmony.

However, there were those who sought the espers' power. A great war between these humans and the espers ensued. The war raged, rending the land to pieces as the humans felled espers, taking their magic and becoming what are now known as magi.

In time, the espers vanished from the world. But at war's end, the world was left in ruins, and blame fell to the magi. It was not long before the magi too vanished, fleeing persecution for their crimes of greed. Magic fell to the shadows of memory, surviving as myths and fairytales, and man rebuilt the world with coal and iron.

1000 years later, technology reigns, but there are some in this world who would seek to repeat the mistakes of the magi.

* * *

The wind whipped flurries of snow through the mountains of Narshe, depositing it on every rock face, every tree, and every living thing that was foolish enough to be out on this freezing night.

And unnatural sound reverberated through the pass: the sound of mechanized joints and the clunk! clunk! clunk! of metallic footsteps.

"We should be able to see the town any time now," Wedge shouted to Biggs over the roar of the wind and the clanks of their Magitek Armor. "Once we're in the mine, it shouldn't take us long to find the Esper!"

"Good!" Biggs shouted back. "I want this over and done as fast as possible!"

"You said it!" Wedge's Armor shuddered, and he wacked his control panel, knocking free the ice that had formed on it. "If it wasn't for that crazy asshole Kefka, I'd have turned down a mission to a bloody cold place like—"

"Not that!" Biggs interrupted. "I mean _that_." He nodded towards the third suit of Armor several strides in front of them, the only visible part of its rider being a billowing cloak. "She creeps me out."

"Aw, you don't have to worry about her," Wedge drawled, waving a dismissive hand. "She's got that creepy, vacant look because of that Slave Crown on her head. All her free will's being suppressed. She doesn't do a thing unless she's told to."

"Like Kefka told her to roast those fifty soldiers? Fifty of our soldiers?"

Wedge coughed. "Um, well, yeah, I guess you have a point there. But the emperor sent us here for a reason. He wants that esper."

"If you say so. But, I swear, if she turns on us, I'm using you as a shield and getting the hell out." Biggs pulled his cloak tighter around himself and his scarf up over his nose, signaling the end of the conversation.

They rounded a bend and the lights of a village came into view. The town of Narshe sprawled below, nestled safely in a snowy valley, far from the Empire's reach, at least for the time being. The trio made their way down, the special alterations to the feet of their Armor keeping them from sliding down the, at times, steep slope.

The streets of Narshe appeared to be mostly deserted, the few inhabitants bold enough to be out in such weather being quick to duck into the nearest building when they noticed the three imperial soldiers clomping straight to the back of the town.

A battle cry sounded over the howl of the wind. From both sides of the street, Narshean soldiers jumped from their hiding places. They were barely visible in the storm, but the flashes from the barrels of their guns were enough to give away their positions. Bullets dinged off the armor plating, and the girl pulled a lever and slammed her fist down on a button on her control panel. The cannon mounted on the front of her Armor blazed white before firing a stream of flame that engulfed the resistance. Shrieking, then men scattered, floundering a few moments in the snowy street before falling still, their forms disappearing into the dark once more as the flames were extinguished.

They pressed forward, meeting no more resistance as they approached the back of the town, and they descended into the mine.

"Well, this is great," Biggs complained as they came to a fork just past the mine entrance, his words muffled through his scarf. "Not even 50 yards in and we already face the chance of getting lost."

"No, wait, look." Wedge pointed to the girl in front of them. For the first time in hours, they saw her move, turning her blonde head from left to right, as if consciously contemplating which direction to take. After a moment, she turned her mount to the left. The two soldiers looked at each other, both wondering whether they could trust her judgment.

"Maybe it's the Crown?" Wedge suggested.

Biggs nodded, adding, "Yeah, Kefka ordered her to find the esper…so maybe the Crown will lead her to it."

They followed her, though their assumption did little to ease their nerves. Deeper she lead them. Surely they were close to the esper by now.

The girl abruptly halted her armor. Biggs and Wedge peered around her, hoping to see the prize they'd been hunting, but saw naught but more tunnel.

"Hey!" Wedge shouted at her, his voice echoing up and down the cavern. "Why'd you stop?"

"Don't make her mad!" Biggs hissed.

"Shh! She doesn't feel anything! Hey!" he tried again, despite knowing that she wouldn't answer.

Shouts and swears erupted from nowhere, filling the tunnel, the echoes making it impossible to tell which direction they came from. Biggs turned to the rear.

"Not that way, you idiot!" Wedge shouted, scraping a fist full of frost from his Armor and hurling it at his comrade. A group of six men charged the trio from the front, brandishing swords and spears. "Protecting the esper, eh? We'll see about that." He reached for a button on his control panel, but the girl acted quicker. Moving almost as stiffly as the Magitek Armor upon which she rode, she jammed the button on her controls again, and like those men outside, these were engulfed in a stream of flame, each of them falling aside, their screams of agony echoing through the tunnels.

"I'm telling you, Wedge, it's unnatural for a girl to do that! No remorse!" He flinched and set both eyes squarely on the girl when he heard her Armor move again.

Wedge threw a lever on his own Armor, shifting it into motion, as well, and sighed irritably. "I keep telling you, Biggs, she has no will!"

For a few minutes more, they trekked deeper still, meeting no further opposition, until the girl led them off the main path, down a freshly cut side tunnel that was barely wide enough for one suit of Magitek Armor to pass through. Soon, however, the tunnel opened up into a small cavern, at the back of which sat a large block of ice. As the trio drew closer, it became apparent that there was something in the ice.

"There's our esper!" Wedge said, shooting a grin at Biggs.

They approached the frozen creature, though Biggs slowed his machine, falling back. "I don't know, Wedge, are you sure this is safe?"

Wedge twisted in his seat, still grinning. "Of course it is! That thing's frozen sol—" The back of the caverned light faintly, then faded back to darkness. He spun back around to face the Esper. It glowed again. "N-now, a little glowing is nothing," he stammered. "Let's just grab this thing and—"

The esper glowed again, more harshly this time, shooting a beam of light from within its frozen prison. The beam struck Wedge in the chest, and, just like that, he and his Magitek Armor vanished.

"Shit!" Biggs yelped, throwing as many levers and pushing as many buttons as his hands could reach to turn his armor around and get out of there as fast as possible. The esper shot another beam of light, striking and sending him to oblivion as well.

Only the girl remained, still advancing her Armor, aware of nothing but the order her master had given her. The esper glowed again, and, this time, the girl halted. The esper stuck again, but, this time, with a spark of electricity aimed at her Armor. The Armor shuddered, the shock traveling thought the control panel enough to force instinct to overpower technology; she yanked her hands back.

A moment later, the Armor exploded, hurling the girl up into the bedrock ceiling before she crashed onto the equally hard cave floor. She stayed there, sprawled across the stone, and did not stir.


	2. The Adventurer

Arvis sat at his desk, turning the jeweled headband over in his hands, examining it. At first glance, it seemed like any old trinket, but something about it felt wrong. The part that passed across the forehead was decorative—shining red gems dangling from a delicate-looking chain. That was the funny thing—it was delicate-_looking. _Actually, however, it proved to be made of some alloy, strong even when formed into a thin chain. Stranger still was the band that was meant to pass around the back of the head, made of the same alloy. The band was thin, but when Arvis ran his fingers over the inside of it, he could feel something like etched lines, and when he moved it closer to the oil lamp on his left, he could just see the tiny seams with his aged eyes. It was as if the band were meant to be opened and some impossibly small compartment was inside.

He glanced over his shoulder at the young blond girl lying unconscious in his bed. He'd heard rumors of the empire developing mind control devices, though the purpose of such devices has yet to be determined by his associates. Could they have done it? Could he be holding—

A soft groan escaped the girl, her hand rising to clutch her head. Arvis placed the headband on his desk, standing and crossing to the girl as she pushed herself halfway to sitting. "Well, what do you know, awake already!"

The girl turned suddenly, having not noticed him initially. She stared at him, her widened eyes darting from the wisps of white hair left on his head to his lined face to the warm-looking clothing. She didn't know him. She glanced around the room. Also unfamiliar.

"Wh—where am I?" she rasped.

"You're in Narshe, my dear," he told her patiently, noting how the hoarseness of her voice sounded more from disuse than from being in the cold. "I found you unconscious in the mine."

"Mine?" What had she been doing in a mine?

"You don't remember?" He chuckled, hoping that a light tone would put her at ease. "Well, you did look to have taken a nasty bump to the head. There was hardly anything left of that Magitek Armor you came into town on." The girl tried to ask what Magitek Armor was, but Arvis had stood and crossed the room, thus, not noticing she'd opened her mouth. "And if this is what I think it is," he continued, lifting the headband, "having it on your head probably didn't help much."

Carefully, the girl pushed back the covers and rose from the bed, wobbling on her feet for a moment before dropping to her knees. Arvis hurried to her side. "Careful, now. I told you, nasty bump."

She looked down at the headband Arvis still held, slowly reaching for it. Her fingers came within a few inches of it, and she yanked her hand back, scooting away and letting out a tiny whimper.

"Hm, so it is," Arvis murmured, looking down at the device.

"Is what?" the girl asked quietly.

Arvis returned his gaze to her, one eyebrow arched. "You don't know? Then why did you—"

"It feels wrong," she said evenly. "I don't know what it is, but…something about it…frightens me."

Arvis frowned and scratched his chin. "What do you know about the empire?"

The girl canted her head to one side, her confusion growing. "What empire?"

"Do you remember anything about what happened before you came here? Anything at all?"

The girl was silent a moment, the only indication that she was doing anything other than staring off into space was the gradual tightening of her lips. After a moment, she shook her head. "Nothing."

"Not even your name?"

"Um…" The girl looked at the floor this time, her eyes drawn to a little knot in the wood. "I think…" There was something swimming on the edge of her consciousness, a voice.

"…Terra," she finally said. "I think its Terra."

The man gave her arm a light tap on the shoulder. "Well, then! All isn't totally lost!"

"How do you mean?"

Arvis gave her a grin. "If you could remember that, then the rest of your memories will come back soon."

"But," she looked at him, "what's going on?"

He patted her shoulder again, more consoling than congratulatory, this time. "Well, it looks to me like the empire was using the headband to control you. You must be a natural at operating that Magitek Armor for them to be so keen to force you to do it. Or, maybe you've got some other—"

Arvis was interrupted by a series of sharp bangs from the other side of the house.

"Damn!" the he swore. He stood and opened the bedroom door a few inches, listening.

"Open up!" they heard faintly. "Give us the girl and the Empire's Magitek Armor!" More banging. "We know she's in there!"

Terra pointed to herself. "Me?"

The old man pulled her to her feet. "Yes, you. I just told you, you were piloting Magitek Armor when you came into town." He spun her around and pushed her towards a door at the back of the room, holding her upright while she found her balance. He flung the door open and a last of cold air and a few specks of snow rushed in. He pointed along the back side of the house. "Run in that direction and head back into the mines."

"But—"

"There's no more time to explain! Just go, trust me!" And with that, he shoved her out into the snow, tossing her cloak over her head and snapping the door shut behind her.

She stood, staring at the door, her hair and cloak whipping in the wind. "Trust you?" she mumbled to the air, adjusting her cloak so that it sat about her shoulders properly. "Trust…"

She heard shuffling and banging just beyond the door and snapped out of her stupor. She imagined being cornered at the end of this narrow path, and her breath caught. She didn't know why, but that was the last thing she wanted to happen. Pulling her cloak close, she trudged along the path that man had pointed out. On one side of her was the back of a row of houses, a rock wall, the other. Though she couldn't see a thing for the darkness, she knew she'd reached the end of the ally-of-sorts; the difference in the way the air flowed through the spall space and the way it flowed out in the open created a vortex that sucked her hair and cloak forward.

She ventured forward cautiously, testing each step before fully putting her weight on her foot. Snow the snow crunched beneath her feet, swallowing her foot all the way to the ankle, but the ground was firm. She stepped with more confidence, advancing into the unyielding darkness.

Suddenly, the ground swayed beneath her, and Terra thought she was losing consciousness again. She stumbled and fell. What was this? She ran her hands across the ground, brushing the snow away. She felt not stone nor soil, but wood. Had she wandered onto a bridge? A light fell upon her.

"There she is! Up there!" came a voice from below. She looked to the light's source. A group of man and a lantern powerful enough to shine even through this storm. The men rushed under the bridge.

Terra staggered to her feet, unsure of how much time she had before the men would make it up to her. Holding her arms out, she found a handhold and grabbed onto it, letting it guide her safely to the other side of the bridge. She looked ahead and saw a faint light flickering through the blizzard. With the knowledge that she was on a higher elevation than the rest of the town keeping her steps cautious, she moved towards it.

She came to a door, or rather, a sheet of wood wedged into an opening in the mountain to act as a door. Light seeped from the edges of the ill-fitting door. Terra wiggled her fingers into one of the gaps and pulled it back just enough for her small body to slip through. She pulled the wood back into place and looked around. The cavern was lit by torches, the source of the light she'd seen. She ventured further, noticing picks and hammers and shovels leaning against the walls. She'd actually done it. She'd found her way into the mine.

At the back of the cavern, she found a path that lead deeper into the mountain. Not keen on sitting around and waiting for those men to find her, she followed it. Deeper and deeper it wound, until Terra started to fear that she would get lost and never find her way out again.

For a long while, only the sound of her own footsteps echoed off the rock walls, but eventually, those echoes seemed to multiply. Voices joined the new feet, and Terra whipped her head around, searching frantically for a place to hide. She had no such luck. The only thing left for her to do was run, and run she did.

She flew through the mine, skidding around bends when the gravel rolled beneath her feet. She saw the path fork off to the left, and made the split second decision to follow it. The new tunnel curved around in a u-shape. She rounded the crest of the curve and ran right into a group of soldiers.

"There she is!" several of them shouted. She yelped and turned around, her feet nearly sliding out from under her with her momentum. She pawed at the air, just barely keeping her balance, and ran back to where she'd turned left.

The group that had been on her tail first came sprinting from the way she'd originally come. She turned left again, the two groups merging behind her into one large group.

Terra slid to a halt. She faced a solid rock wall. She'd come to a dead end.

"End of the line, missy!"

She spun around. The group of soldiers clogged the tunnel. There was no way she'd be able to slip through their ranks and escape back the way they'd come. She stepped backwards as the advanced on her. Her stomach turned. Why were they so intent on capturing her? She took another step and found herself pressed against the wall. She'd soon be finding out why she was so important, then.

Or, perhaps she'd find out why this tunnel was a dead end. The stone beneath her feet crumbled. Her scream echoed both back up the tunnel and around the chamber below. She slammed into the hard ground for the second time that night. She moaned, pushing herself up and blinking, trying to right her hazy vision. But the haze just became denser, until all was dark.

* * *

"He better have a damn good reason for calling me in this storm," Locke grumbled through his chattering teeth. He trudged through the snow piled against the walls of the buildings. It was a slower and more difficult way to travel, but it was far easier to go unnoticed by the soldiers lurking the streets of Narshe.

Locke paused at a corner, peering around it. A lamp flickered through the snow, voices just barely reaching his ears through the wind.

"—recover—armor—the girl—" was all the was able to make out. He thought he heard banging. Were they going door to door? That would be problematic; his destination was down this street. With a sigh, he straightened up. He felt along the wall behind him, looking for a flaw in the house's exterior to use as a foot hold. His fingered dipped into a hole, a spot where the corner of a wood plank had rotted away. It was a bit too high for him to lift his foot to, but he'd manage. He stomped in the snow, packing it down, piled more on top, and repeated a few times until he had a nice frozen stepping stone.

The toe of his boot barely fit into the hole. He placed both hands flat on the wall; he wouldn't have much time to find a window ledge once he boosted himself, and he didn't much feel like falling and trying again. He pushed himself up, hands scrambling to find the window he knew was somewhere above. There! He caught the ledge, the muscles his arm contracting and pulling some of his weight off his foot just before it slipped free. Shaking as much ice from his free foot as he could without smacking it against the house and drawing attention to himself, be pressed it against the wood, tested for traction, then quickly pulled his other foot from its hold and hooked his heel onto the window sill alongside his hands. With a few more quick footed moves one would expect from a thief, he pulled himself into the roof.

As agile as a cat, he slunk along the roof's ridge, leaping across the gap between him and the next house, landing silently upon its roof. He shimmied down the incline, uncaring about the snow he sent sliding. If anyone actually noticed, they wouldn't suspect a thing, considering the weather. He could see a light at the front door of his colleague's home. So the troops had beaten him here, eh? He dropped off the roof and bent over, making himself little more than a shadow as he gave the front of the house a wide girth, squeezing down the narrow space between the side of the house and the mountain, making it to the house's rear and entering the back door.

"Hey, old man!" he yelled, shedding his cloak and tossing it onto a hook by the door.

"I assure you, she's not here," the old man's voice floated through the open door. "You can take a look, if you'd like."

'Uh-oh' Locke jogged in place, looking around for a place to hide. Seeing no place suitable, his eyes landed on the bed. He dove into it, pulling the covers over his head and rubbing at the specks of snow still clinging to his hair.

"You see? There's—"

"What's that in the bed?"

Locke put on his most pitiful expression just before the covers were ripped back. The Narshean soldier glared down at him, taking notice of his wet hair and rosy cheeks.

"Just some kid with a fever," he grunted, dropping the blanket.

"What's all that snow by the door?" another asked.

"I-I had just gone out back to get some more firewood before you gentlemen arrived," the old man said quickly. "My grandson is very—"

"Yeah, yeah, save it," a soldier said. "She's not here, boys. Let's go." The men filed out of the room, but it wasn't until the front door slammed shut that the old man released his held breath.

"Whew! That was a close one!" he chortled. "Quick thinking, there, Locke."

Locke threw the blanket over the end of the bed and bounced to his feet. "What do you mean, 'That was a close one'? You had something to hide?"

"Of course I did!" The man put his hands on his hips. "I think I have quite a bit to hide, don't you?"

"Yeah," Locke mumbled. "So, why'd you call me here in the middle of all this madness?"

The man's eyes lit up; he was eager to get straight to the point. "I met the girl."

"The girl?" Locke repeated, realization slowly spreading across his face as he made sense of what he'd overheard from the soldiers, his eyes taking the same intrigued light. "You mean the girl they say is a sorceress?" His voice was hushed, as quiet as the voices he'd heard whispering it during his latest infiltration of Vector. "Arvis…do you think she can really—"

"There's no time for that," he said, holding up a hand to silence Locke. He crossed to the desk and lifted the headband for Locke to see. "Do you remember the rumors of the mind control devices?"

"No way," Locke said lowly, his fists clenching. "They actually—"

Arvis nodded once, his gaze intense. "And I doubt the guards will believe she had no control of her actions. She needs help."

"Where is she?" Locke asked as he moved to put his cloak back on, excitement and seriousness creating an odd mix in his voice.

"I told her to run to the mines."

For the slightest moment, genuine worry flashed across Locke's face, but it was quickly replaced by urgent determination. "I'll find her."


End file.
